


Hush

by battleships



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M, Kid Fic, Suicide Mention (canon), Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-18 01:18:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16985382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/battleships/pseuds/battleships
Summary: Two weeks after being stabbed and abandoned in the 1994 Prison World, Bonnie finds herself in a kind of trouble she'd never expected.Or, the bonkai kidfic absolutely no one asked for.





	1. Chapter 1

Fear clutched Bonnie’s heart as she stared at the counter, ten different terrible sticks of plastic each telling her what she had hoped she was wrong about. The nausea, exhaustion, mood swings… it could only mean one thing. Two weeks after stabbing and abandoning her, Kai was still managing to make her life miserable. Picking up the camera, she turned it to face her, turning it on and trying to keep her voice from shaking. “Well, I was right,” she said into the lens, swallowing hard, “I’m pregnant. I’m in a prison world, alone, and I’m pregnant.” Another wave of fear washed over her and she took a breath, “I-” Her voice caught. Slowly she shook her head and turned off the camera.

“What am I gonna do?” She asked, her voice trembling as tears began to fall. Setting the camera back on the counter, beside the evil plastic sticks. How could she raise a child in a prison world? What if the fetus growing inside her was more Kai than Bonnie? What if she raised another sociopath like him? Maybe her best option was the one staring her in the face. She was too young to be a mother anyway.

And yet there was something in her that resisted the idea. “I just need to sleep, that’ll clear everything up.” Bonnie doubted she would be able to, but it was worth a shot. Curling up in front of the TV, she tried to let something mindless drown out her anxieties, and the pregnancy-induced exhaustion finally kicked in, allowing her to drift into dreamland.

Unfortunately her problems hadn’t gone away when she woke up, as she’d almost hoped they would. The taunting sticks were still on the counter and her head was in the toilet practically the moment she woke up. She hadn’t had a nightmare, she really was pregnant. Now the question was, what was she going to do about it?

* * *

Being back in the real world had been a bit of an adjustment for Kai. Pants were tighter, he didn’t know any of the music, no one roller skated anymore… but phones could fit in pockets now, even in skinny jean pockets as long as you didn’t mind looking weird while fishing it out, and they had all this extra stuff. Like Google, Google was amazing, really helping him adjust well.

In fact it was thanks to Google that he was able to find the little siblings that could. Really, Liv should have known better than to leave her profile public. And that allowed him to find Jo, who had finally come to her senses about the merge. With a little help. “I’m so glad we’re doing this,” Kai said with a grin.

“Shut up,” Jo glared at him, reminding Kai once again just how much time had passed. “Let’s just get this over with.”

They joined hands, about to start chanting when Jo was ripped away. Before Kai could even register what had happened, Luke was stepping out into the light, offering himself to merge in place of Jo. Maybe he thought he could win, maybe he just wanted out, Kai didn’t know and he didn’t care. The merge worked, Kai emerged victorious.

The next day he woke up feeling terrible, there was this empty feeling inside him, like a hole eating away at him that he didn’t understand. Kai had never felt anything like it before.

It was guilt.

Stupid Luke and his stupid emotions. He couldn’t stop thinking about what he’d done to his family, about Bonnie, about how he’d just left her there. Even before getting all these extra feelings he had wanted her to come with him, she was an amazing witch and Kai would have loved to do wicked magic with her. But she refused to let him out, so he had done what he had to. He had been stuck on May 10th, 1994 for eighteen years, he had to get out.

Now though, he was feeling all kinds of bad feelings, and he turned to the internet again for help.  

* * *

“I’m a little over two months along by now, I think,” Bonnie said into the camera, “I’ve officially decided to keep it. Maybe it’s selfish of me, but this baby makes me feel a little less alone.” She’d already taken to talking to the slight bulge in her abdomen, thinking of it as another person. Maybe that would make her solitary sentence easier to bear.

She’d raided a nearby drug store for prenatal vitamins and had picked up some books on pregnancies. What to eat, what not to do, if she was having this baby she was going to do it right. Even if it was a bad idea, and she was all alone.

“My birthday’s in a few weeks,” she realized suddenly, a pang growing in her chest. At that moment her stomach growled, giving her a welcome distraction from the loneliness. “Alright baby, let’s go get both of us some lunch.”

* * *

Feelings were hard. Kai had no idea how people handled having them all the time, their whole lives. Google had helped, a little. He wrote a few letters pouring out those gross feelings, burned it like the website told him, but it didn’t work. He still felt bad for all the things he did. So when he couldn’t find Jo through a locator spell, he realized he had to ask for some help. The only people he knew that might even consider helping him were over at the Salvatore house, and of course they had their own conditions. Which apparently also involved Elena’s baby brother, for some reason.

The ascendant was almost useless, he tried tinkering with it to fix it, but it would never be strong enough to take them back to the prison world. “So, I can’t send us back physically,” Kai said, “but I can probably send a part of us back.”

“Probably?” Elena asked, and Kai had to remind himself that he was doing this for Jo… and for Bonnie.

“You remember the movie _Ghost_?” He asked, getting the sense from her reaction that she was at least familiar with it. “Okay, Bonnie is gonna be Demi Moore because she’s the alive one, obviously, and we’ll all be a collective Patrick Swayze. The ghost. By the way, how much does that suck about Swayze?”

Clearly Elena wasn’t a Swayze fan. “Will she be able to see us or not, Kai?”

He shrugged, grinning a little in excitement, “I dunno, I’ve never done this before. So let’s all just close our eyes and...” he began chanting the spell to send a part of them to the prison world. When he opened his eyes, it had worked.

The pool table was gone and sitting there at the dining room table was, “Bonnie? Bonnie!” Jeremy shouted, running up to her until he realized, “She can’t hear me.”

They all watched together as Bonnie stood up, turning to get something and all of their eyes were drawn to her stomach, Kai felt his blood run cold. That didn’t just look like she had gained a little weight, and it seemed the others felt the same as once Bonnie had left the room all eyes moved to him. Elena sent a questioning look to Damon, but seeing him glaring at Kai apparently told her all she needed to know.

Before anyone could say anything though, Bonnie walked back in, a bottle of bourbon in one hand and a glass in the other. “I’m sorry,” she whispered as she sat down, placing a hand on her abdomen. “I really tried.” With that she poured the bourbon into the glass, setting the bottle down so she could start drinking.

“That’s the oldest bottle of bourbon here,” Damon said. “We said that if we couldn’t stand being here another day we’d kill that bottle, and then ourselves.”

Kai couldn’t understand the wrenching he felt in his heart, like someone had plunged a hand into his chest and squeezed. His magic burned brighter and the glass was ripped from Bonnie’s hand just as she placed it to her lips. She whipped around to look for the source of the magic, eyes widening as she saw Kai in front of her, but none of the others. “What the hell are you doing back here?” She yelled. That was when the magic unravelled, and the group was sent back to the present day.

“What happened?” Elena asked, “Why are we back here?”

“I don’t know,” Kai said, gently touching his nose to discover he was bleeding. “The spell must’ve been too much for me to handle.” His heart raced as he tried to process what he had just seen, why he cared so much.

Before he could even begin to wrap his mind around what had happened, Damon was already in Kai’s face, picking him up and shoving him against a wall. “What did you do to her after I was gone?” He snarled.

Despite dealing with a frenzy of emotions, Kai couldn’t help but smirk in response, “It wasn’t just when you were gone, if you remember she was pretty focused on me.”

“Because you’re crazy,” Damon growled, still holding Kai against the wall.

“I’m crazy in bed too,” Kai replied cheekily, prompting Damon to shove him against the wall harder, his head hitting the wall hard. “Ow! Okay, look, I didn’t even know I could get someone pregnant in the prison world, it’s not like anyone told me. They weren’t really expecting me to have guests.”

Oddly enough, Jeremy was the one to come to Kai’s rescue, in a sense. “We don’t have time for this!” He yelled in both their faces, “Kai, we have to go back. Now.”

As much as he wanted to, and he was not going to think about how much he did, Kai wasn’t sure he could. “You see this?” He pointed to the blood dripping from his nose, “I’m guessing it’s not a good thing. I don’t know if it’s possible for me to go back at all, let alone with three passengers.”

“But she was able to see you,” Jeremy said, “And I’m guessing that was your magic that made the glass move, right?”

“Yeah...” Kai said, waiting for him to get to the point.

“You didn’t think that was possible either, maybe if you just take me, we can break through completely.”

Damon’s face scrunched up even more at Jeremy’s suggestion, but it got the wheels in Kai’s mind turning. “That’s a good point, if I focus all my magic…” He trailed off, another thought occurring to him. “I have an idea. You gonna let me go, Macho Man?” Kai asked.

“This better work,” Damon growled as he let Kai go.

Kai placed the ascendant on the table, turning to face the three, “I’m gonna need something metal that has magic, a daylight ring, perhaps?” He asked with a grin. Both vampires frowned at him, neither of them sure what Kai was talking about.

Jeremy, on the other hand, had his head in the game. “Are you saying you can bring her back?”

“Bingo, Jer-Bear,” Kai said, pointing a finger gun at Jeremy. “If I have something with significant magic I might be able to use that magic to power the ascendant. It needs to be metal because some of the parts are missing. You can’t just cast a fixing spell on something that’s a key between worlds.”

“Does it have to be a daylight ring?” Elena asked.

“Unless you can think of something else that’s metal and magical, yeah. Hand it over,” Kai made grabbing motions with his hands in the general direction of Elena and Damon.

Elena looked nervously between the three men, “Damon?”

“Yeah,” He said, stepping into the shadow as he took off his ring and handed it to Elena. “If this doesn’t work, I’m snapping your neck,” Damon added, glaring at Kai as he was handed the ring.

“You know that’ll kill my entire coven, right?” Kai asked with a scoff.

Damon’s expression didn’t change, “Yeah, I know.”

“Okay, Mr. Serious,” Kai chuckled, placing ring on top of the ascendant. Closing his eyes, he built up his magic, focusing on the ring, on making it become part of the ascendant. “ _Et fiet unum fieri fortior,_ ” he chanted, straining as the ascendant and ring shook, vibrating faster and faster until the ring melted into the ascendant, glowing so brightly it hurt to look at it. When Kai opened his eyes, he realized he had done the one thing he would have thought he never would. He had fixed the ascendant. The key to his prison. For Bonnie Bennett. And he found himself thinking he would do it again if he had to.

“Did it work?” Damon asked, a hint of nervousness in his tone.

“Only one way to find out,” Kai replied with a grin. “Let’s go, Jerry-Berry.” It might have been easier for him to go alone, but from Bonnie’s face when she saw him, Kai figured he might need some backup.

Closing his eyes once again, he gripped Jeremy’s forearm while he began chanting the spell to open the door to the prison world. He didn’t realize how much he was exerting himself, didn’t feel the sheen of sweat on his skin, all Kai knew was that Bonnie had been considering killing herself just moments before and he couldn’t let them be too late. Concentrating as hard as he could, Kai drew on all his power as the Gemini Coven leader to punch through to the other world.

“What the hell, Kai?” Bonnie yelled before he had even opened his eyes. “How the hell are you back here?”

A wide grin spread across his lips at the sight of her, even if she was screaming at him, “Getting you out of here,” he said, almost breathlessly, “Oh, uh, Jerry’s here too,” he said as an afterthought, gesturing at Jeremy, but it seemed Bonnie still couldn’t see him. His eyes traveled down to her stomach and his brain caught up with the rest of him. _Oh that’s right,_ Kai thought, _I was panicking._

“Who?” Bonnie asked, staring in confusion at the blank space Kai seemed to be gesturing at.

“Elana’s little brother.”

“Elana?”  
  
“Daryl’s girlfriend.”

She blinked a few times, trying to decipher all the nicknames. “... Jeremy?”

“Yeah, uh… it’s a long story. Kinda like…” he looked pointedly at the bump.

Bonnie frowned, “Not that long of a story actually. Just a few really bad mistakes in a row.”

“Mistakes?”

“Yes, Kai. Mistakes.”

Kai couldn’t understand why that crushed him the way it did, so instead of dwelling he nodded, smiling sadly, “Okay well, I’m not sure how long this spell will last, and with the littlest Gilbert being all invisible I don’t think either of us are fully on this plane. But I think I can pull you through if you take my hands.”

“You really expect me to trust you?” She asked incredulously.

“I’m burning up my magic fast just by being here, it’s not going to hold forever and then you’ll be stuck here until I can recharge.”

Bonnie eyed him skeptically for a long while before silently offering him her hands, Kai’s smile brightened and he reached for her, his face falling instantly when his hands floated right through hers. “What?” He whispered, not understanding what happened but he felt his magic slipping and he looked down to see blood pooling at his chest.

“No!” Jeremy shouted as they were both pulled back to the real world once again, seeing Liv standing in front of Kai and a fire iron sticking out of his chest.

The two witches immediately began firing spells at each other, Kai sending a fork flying into Liv’s neck which she stupidly removed before blasting him with an aneurysm. Jeremy watched the witches go after each other, all he could think about was that Bonnie was alone with no idea what had happened.

“Kai!” He yelled, “We have to get back to Bonnie!”

“A little busy here, Jerry boy, maybe you didn’t notice?” Kai responded, having Liv pinned down by now as he held a candle up and talked about burning her alive. But he couldn’t. There was nothing in him that cared about Liv and yet he still couldn’t kill her. She used his moment of hesitation to fling the fork into Kai’s neck, breaking whatever had held him back before as he sent her flying into a wall so hard she was knocked unconscious. A beat passed and Kai crumpled to the ground himself. Between the blood loss and the exertion from the spell he was at the end of his rope and fading fast.

“Kai, I need you to send us back,” Jeremy said, kneeling beside him.

“Look at me, I’m half dead,” Kai managed to choke out.

“Please, Kai, we have to save Bonnie.”

“Okay,” he said, heaving a breath, “Help me up.” Jeremy wrapped his arms around Kai, hefting the other man up while Kai strained his magic, using the last of his strength to once again open the door to the prison world. “Bonnie!” He called.

* * *

She was hallucinating, she had to be. But why would she hallucinate Kai, of all people? Why would her hallucination mention Jeremy? The only part that made sense is that she would hallucinate him being hurt. But… what if it was real?

“No,” Bonnie said to herself, “I’m just losing my mind, I’ve been here too long, alone.” Except that didn’t explain the glass, Bonnie looked over to see the shattered glass of bourbon, stooping down to pick up one of the pieces. “Ow!” She hissed, the glass pricking her finger. “At least that’s real,” she said to herself. “Maybe I threw it…” she said. That made more sense than Kai actually coming back for her.

Sighing, Bonnie set the piece down and went to find a broom and a dustpan to clean it up. As she stood up though, the world flickered around her. “What the…” she muttered, watching as the house around her changed, furniture moved and disappeared and there was a woman in front of her, staring at her just as curiously. “Who are you?” Bonnie asked.

The woman merely tilted her head, studying Bonnie quietly. She wore an Edwardian dress and looked so bizarrely familiar even though Bonnie knew would have sworn she’d never seen her before.

Just as quickly as the vision occurred it was gone again, the world flickering back to 1994 as Bonnie stumbled backwards, grasping the edge of the table for support. “What the hell was that?” She asked herself, looking around to see if anything was different, but no it was the same room she’d been in before.

“Bonnie!” She heard from behind her, Kai was back. He looked terrible, he was bleeding and pale, reaching out for her desperately.

“What happened to you?” she asked, the confusion and fear for what was happening showing in her voice.

“Long story, family drama, take my hand.”

If this was real, she was being offered a way out of the prison world. And if it wasn’t, well, the worst thing that would happen is her being embarrassed. Quickly, Bonnie reached out to take his hand, tensing but not objecting when he pulled her closer. She watched him strain to keep his hold on her as they passed between worlds, the Bennett blood from her pricked finger strengthening to the spell. What happened to the man who left her there? Kai was at the end of his rope magically and physically, but he was still thinking about her.

Truth be told, Kai hadn’t been entirely sure this would work. He worried that he’d open his eyes and only be greeted by open air, so much so that he kept his eyes closed even after he was sure they were back in the real world. When he finally did open his eyes, he caught a glimpse of Bonnie before crumpling into Jeremy, the blood loss and magical exhaustion finally getting to him.

“Bonnie!” Elena shouted, wrapping her arms around her friend. “You’re back! It worked!”

“I am,” Bonnie said, tears falling from her eyes, “I really am. Kai how did yo-” she turned to see the siphoner passed out on the ground, with Jeremy kneeling by him. “Quick, someone heal him,” Bonnie moved to help Jeremy straighten Kai out on the floor as Damon rushed forward to feed Kai his blood.

Slowly he came back to consciousness, sending Damon a confused look before turning to Bonnie, a smile growing on his lips. “You’re back,” he murmured.

“Because of you,” she said, eyes narrowing in confusion and anger. What was she supposed to do with that? He left her, he tortured her, kidnapped her and flown her across the country only to drug her, but he also saved her? He’d reawakened her magic back when they first met. Not to mention, he was the father of her child. There had been a time when she liked him well enough to jump into bed with him, a few times, in fact. A battlefield of conflicting emotions played out before her, too confusing to delve into so she shoved them aside. “What happened to him?” She asked Damon.

The vampire scowled, “He used my daylight ring to fix the ascendant so I went into the other room where it’s less sunny. Then he got shish-ka-bob-ed by little sis Liv.”

Bonnie looked around the room and saw the pile of blonde curls on top of the crumpled body of Olivia Parker. “One of you should probably give her some blood too,” Bonnie said, not understanding why she didn’t want to leave Kai’s side. “I’m guessing you did that,” she said to him flatly.

“She started it,” Kai mumbled. He was quickly feeling better, but not completely. Something felt off still.

“So how did you get me out of there without my blood?” She asked curiously.

Kai smirked, “Well the prison worlds are tied to the Gemini Coven leader, and that’s me now. I just had to demand it and they let me have you.” That wasn’t particularly accurate, but Kai couldn’t help a little embellishments.

“Wait, prison worlds?” Elena asked, “There’s more than one?”

“Yeah, no one told you that?”

Bonnie frowned, “What would happen to them if you were dying?”

“You mean like I just was? They’d collapse.”

“Could they have started to collapse into each other when you were dying just now?”

“Yeah, that’s possible. Why?”

Bonnie shook her head, “I thought I just imagined it, but after you disappeared I thought I saw a woman, standing a few feet from where you were. It looked like she saw me too.”

“In this house?” Damon asked curiously. “What did she look like?”

“Auburn hair, blue eyes, I think? She kind of looked like she could be related to you, Damon.”

Both of them turned to Kai at the same time, who at least had the decency to look sheepish. “In my defense, I only just figured it out. I’m guessing the name Lily Salvatore means something to you?”

Damon grabbed him by the shirt, pulling him close, “How do you know my mother’s name?” He demanded.

“She’s your mom? That’s unfortunate.” Damon didn’t take that well and nearly slammed Kai’s head into the floor before Bonnie stopped him. “Hey! Look, it’s not like the Geminis take detailed records of all the relatives of people they imprisoned, unless it’s me but that’s because I am a Gemini. But they tried to erase me. You don’t put someone in a prison world to make a spectacle of them, you do it to make them disappear.”

“My mother isn’t in a prison world. She died in 1858 of consumption.”

“Hate to break it to you, but she is,” Kai said, pushing Damon off him. “In 1903.”

Damon’s eyes narrowed dangerously, “That’s not possible.”

“Hm, I wonder how someone could still be punished for doing something years after they supposedly died,” Kai said sarcastically, “She’s a vampire, genius.”

“That’s n-”  
  
Kai sighed and sat up, “Not possible, yeah, I got it,” he rolled his eyes.

“How do you know this?” Bonnie asked.

“Turns out they forgot to change the access code on the Gemini archives before they locked me up for eighteen years. I had nothing to do but read for a lot of that time.” Kai coughed a couple times, “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to go sleep off this whole almost getting murdered thing.”

The two vampires and witch shared a look until Damon finally sighed, “Yeah, get him upstairs.”

“What?” Kai asked in alarm.

Damon glared at him. “I’m not letting you out of my sight until you tell me more about this.”

“Uh…” Kai wasn’t sure that was a good idea, but it seemed he wasn’t in a position to argue, as Elena had already moved to pick him up. Before he knew it, he was upstairs in a bed, his eyes already closing.

* * *

The next morning Kai felt worse than before. A coughing fit greeted him the moment he awoke, making way for a wave of nausea so intense he was amazed he managed to reach the toilet in time. _Blood, that’s not good._ He thought as he stood up. He needed a doctor… he needed Jo.

“Good, you’re up,” Damon said snidely once Kai made it downstairs. “We can continue that little chat we were having yesterday.”

“Can’t right now, Dale, got more urgent business.” Clearly that wasn’t the right thing to say as it ended up with him pushed up against yet another wall by Damon. “Get off me,” he said, feeling another wave crash over him. “Now, get off me now!”

“Not until I get some answers,” Damon growled.

“Look, something went wrong. I woke up this morning feeling like I was dying and I’m bleeding. Now will you let me go so I can find out what the hell is happening?”

Damon eyed him carefully, taking in his pallor and fatigue. “What’s wrong with you?”

“I don’t know,” Kai replied, annoyance clear in his tone. “That’s where I was going. To find out what’s wrong.” He had a theory, a pretty good one if he said so himself, but he didn’t really feel like telling Damon that.

Both of them were startled apart by the sound of the front door opening, shoes clicked along the floor until a face was put to the sounds. “Bonnie!” Damon said cheerily, “Good, you’re here, you can patch the leech up so that he can tell me more.” Kai rolled his eyes, at least Damon had let go of him.

“What happened?” She asked, looking over Kai just like Damon had.

He’d only lied to Bonnie once, and he wasn’t keen on doing it again. “I think something went wrong, with the merge.”

“What do you mean?”  
  
Right, she didn’t know he merged. “Uh… while you were…”

“Trapped in the prison you left me in?” She supplied, a strange twinkle in her eyes.

“Yeah, that. I performed the merge with my brother, Luke.”

Bonnie’s brow furrowed, “I thought you could only do that with your twin?” Damon looked at her curiously, wondering how Bonnie knew so much about that.

“Yeah well, we’re both twins and the same age because of that whole eighteen year time out. So he offered and I wasn’t really gonna turn it down.”

A beat passed while Bonnie considered this, “So you think whatever’s happening right now is because of that?” She asked. “That the magic is tearing your body apart?”

Part of him wanted to just sit there and talk with Bonnie about magic for hours but another coughing fit reminded him of what was possibly at stake. “And if I die-”

“So does your coven,” she finished for him. Kai had to fight a smile from twitching at his lips. “I’ll take you to Jo,” she said. Bonnie ushered him out the door and into her car. Once they were both inside, Kai clearly very confused by this turn of events, she turned to him, her eyes hard. “Why did you save me?” She asked.

“That’s what you came here to ask, isn’t it?” He responded.

She started the car and began driving, taking away his escape. “You’re a sociopath. You stabbed me and left me there… and then you come back for me? Nearly die for me? Why?”

He sighed heavily, looking out the window, “I don’t know,” he answered quietly.

“That’s not an answer, Kai.”

“Well it’s the truth. I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going on with me. All I know is that… I felt bad for leaving you, even before I merged with Luke and got all his gross feelings.”

“You got his feelings?” She asked.

“Yeah, during the merge we take on some aspects of the other twin in addition to their magic. Memories, habits, favorite foods… empathy,” he replied.

“But it could have killed you,” she said quietly.

“Yeah, well… I nearly killed you. And our…” his voice caught in his throat. “We should probably talk about that.”

It wasn’t a very long drive to Jo’s, she was already pulling into the driveway by that point. “Don’t die,” she said, “Then we can talk.”

Kai had expected her to leave him there, but to her surprise she came up with him. The boyfriend nearly slammed the door in Kai’s face when he showed up on their doorstep, Bonnie in tow. Kai figured that was fair, he did nearly merge with Jo a few days ago, which would have essentially killed her. “Look, I know you hate me, but I really need to see my sister.”

“I think she’ll pass,” Alaric replied, “Bonnie?” He asked, finally looking past Kai to see her.

“What are you doing here, Kai?” Jo’s voice broke through.

“I’m sick,” Kai said, folding his arms and leaning against the doorframe.

Jo glared at him, “Join the club,” she took a few steps closer, her voice dangerously low. “How did you even know where I was? I used a blocking spell.”

He sighed, watching her plaintively. “Bonnie drove me. Look, there’s an issue that I’ve been worried about since the merge,” he added quickly, glancing from Jo to Alaric, “because we didn’t really do it right? You know, the whole, ‘you’re not really my twin but hey close enough’ plan? It worked, which was, you know, cool. Hey, I’m even a little bit nice now,” he added, turning to Alaric again while Bonnie rolled her eyes behind him, “in case you were wondering.”

While he rambled Jo wore a very clear, ‘get on with it or I’ll make you’ which would be cute to watch her try, but Kai figured he should get to the point. “I’ve been waiting for the other shoe to drop, and, well, I think it dropped. Because I’m-” another wave of nausea hit him, cutting him off mid-sentence. “Where’s the bathroom?” He asked, trying to keep it down to no avail. In addition to yesterday’s dinner, blood shot from his mouth and into the vase Alaric handed him.

“Oh God,” Jo whispered, “You think this is because of the merge?”

“I was supposed to merge with you,” he said, taking a few breaths before standing up, “but I got Luke instead. I think that’s why you’re sick.”

“This doesn’t make sense though,” Jo said, “When did you start feeling sick?”

“Yesterday?” He answered with a shrug.

“And did you do anything yesterday that might have caused this?”

Kai huffed and frowned, “Well, I exhausted my magic and got stabbed with a fire iron.”

“You _what_?” Jo yelped, surprising herself with how concerned she was, but she chalked it up to knowing that if he died so would she.

Bonnie merely shook her head in the background, “Liv stabbed him while he was pulling me out of the prison world.” Both Jo and Alaric turned their attention to her, Jo’s eyes widening when she took a good look at her.

“Bonnie...”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she said curtly. “Let’s just, deal with one thing at a time, for now.”

“Okay,” Jo replied, knowing they weren’t nearly close enough for her to push the subject.

“Talk about what?” Alaric asked, lost.

“It’s a big deal and pretty scary but right now only one of us is dying and that’s me, so can you just help fix me and I’ll be on my way?” Kai asked, trying not to think about just how freaked out he was by this situation.

Unimpressed, Jo turned back to him, “Fine, let me get dressed and I’ll take you to my office.”

While Jo left, Alaric looked between the two witches in front of him, “What was that all about?” He asked Bonnie who stared at him incredulously while Kai broke out in a fit of laughter.

“Let’s just hope that if you two have kids, they get my sister’s smarts,” Kai said, flopping onto a couch to wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big shoutout to Scorpio_Karma for beta-ing this for me, you're the best! She caught a stray line that I didn't mean to include and would have made no sense. I'm sure you've all checked out her fics but if you haven't what are you waiting for?


	2. Chapter 2

“So, is someone gonna explain to me why he has to be here?” Kai asked, nodding at Alaric who had tagged along with them to Jo’s office. 

Alaric stood near the door with his arms crossed, “I’m not leaving you alone with them, not after what you did.”

Rolling his eyes, Kai shifted on top of the uncomfortable table, “Yeah, yeah, I’m the devil. Jo’s over it.”

“I’m not,” Jo glared, flashing her pen light in his eyes to check his pupil response. She was intending on giving him a full checkup, not quite believing that this was a problem with the merge. Before she’d given up her magic she’d been very interested in medicinal magic, it was nice to be combining the two again.

“Bonnie’s over it,” Kai tried.

“Nope,” Bonnie said from where she sat off to the side.

“You shouldn’t even speak to her,” Alaric snarled. 

That gave Bonnie pause while Kai snorted. “Why does everyone act like I raped her or something? If I remember correctly, Bonnie was begging for more.” He expected the rage on Alaric’s face and Jo’s glare, but what surprised him was Bonnie simply rolling her eyes and looking away. He’d been expecting a much more disgusted reaction.

Quickly Jo changed the subject, “Nothing’s medically wrong with you,” she said.

“Yeah,” he replied, “Because I’m magically sick… but you-” his stomach lurched and he picked up a trash bin to empty his stomach into, grabbing her arm to steady himself. He didn’t realize he’d begun to siphon her magic until Alaric was already fighting him off. “Sorry,” he panted, “Wow, I feel better, like, way better. Like, I feel good. That must be it, I was supposed to get your magic in the merge and now I’m all off balance.”

“Kai, you over-exhausted yourself and tapped into more power than you’re capable of handling yet,” Jo said, annoyed, “I’ll make you a restorative sleep potion and you’ll be fine in fifteen to twenty-four hours.”

“Can’t he make it?” Alaric asked, obviously wanting this business with Kai to be done as soon as possible.

Jo shook her head, “No, he can’t use any more magic until he’s better,” Kai made a face, like he was about to protest so Jo continued, “That was a power reserve you tapped into, only supposed to be used as a last option.” 

“I know,” he said petulantly. 

“Then stop acting like a child and start acting like a damn coven leader,” Jo glared at him. Instead of responding, Kai just stared at her, wondering where the Jo he’d known went. On second thought, he knew where. This is who he’d forced her to become. This is the Jo that was born the day she watched their other siblings die. He was almost proud.

But he couldn’t let her know he felt that way, so he kept the frown on his face as he stared up at her silently seething.

“That’s what I thought. I’ll make you the potion and then I want you to get out.”

Bonnie watched the exchange anxiously, was this really the kind of family she wanted to bring a child into? Was Kai really the kind of man she wanted to father her child? What if this child wound up being just like him? That’s where she cut off her train of thought, forcing herself back to the present where Jo was telling Kai that she’d have the potion done in an hour and summarily kicking the two of them out of her office so she could work.

“You hungry?” Kai asked out of the blue, “I’m starving, is there anywhere to eat nearby?”

“You were just throwing up blood, how can you possibly be hungry?” Bonnie asked incredulously.

Kai shrugged, “I need to get my strength up, especially if I’m gonna be sleeping for a whole day.”

Bonnie rolled her eyes, though he did have a point. Plus, she was also pretty hungry. “Fine, your demon spawn seems to want something too.”

“Our demon spawn,” Kai grinned.

“Don’t push it.”

* * *

“So are we gonna talk about this now?” Kai asked, shoving a sandwich into his mouth.

Bonnie sighed, “We might as well. I don’t trust you and I definitely don’t like you-”

“Ouch,” Kai interrupted, earning a glare.

“ _ But _ ,” she continued, almost regretting it, “I thought about… getting rid of it,” she said, pointedly not looking at Kai while she spoke, “Even tracked down some pills in the prison world. But I couldn’t do it. And you did help save me, even though I’m sure there was some ulterior motive.”

She wasn’t wrong, he didn’t save her just out of the goodness of his heart. He saved her because he wanted her, because he missed her, and though he was terrified at the idea of being a father, he wanted that with her.

“I want to keep this baby,” Bonnie continued hesitantly, “I think. But I’m only twenty, I’m going to need help and I’m not sure I can even let you near a kid, forget about raising one.”

“Bonnie,” Kai said pleadingly, staring her in the eyes, “I am so sorry for everything I did to you, I’ll never be able to make it up to you. But I can promise you that I will  _ never _ hurt you again and that nothing will ever happen to you or the baby as long as I’m around. I’ve changed, Bonnie, I swear.”

Bonnie leaned back in her seat, studying him carefully, trying to decide if he was being sincere. He certainly sounded sincere, but he always sounded sincere. “I’m scared,” she finally admitted.

“Wanna hear a secret?” Kai asked, “So am I. I didn’t really have the best parental examples, if you didn’t notice.” Bonnie smiled wryly and he couldn’t help the way his face brightened in response. “I wouldn’t want to do this with anyone but you. I want to make things right with you, Bonnie, not just for this kid but because I owe you.” He found himself having to remember to use singular terms and couldn’t quite understand why. Maybe he had just always expected his firstborn would be twins, the coven leader almost always had twins first, but he hadn’t been coven leader when Bonnie got pregnant.

“Stop looking at me like that,” Bonnie said.

“Like what?” Kai asked, tilting his head slightly in confusion.

“Like… I don’t know, like you can’t look away.”

“I can’t.”

Bonnie frowned at him, crossing her arms. 

“It’s true! God, Bonnie, you really have no idea how amazing you are, do you? You’re a force of nature.” She was a hurricane, a tsunami, and he wanted nothing more than to drown in her. He would let her rip him apart if that meant being close to her for just a little longer.

She had no way to respond to that, so used to being someone’s second, third, even fourth choice that she couldn’t wrap her mind around being a first choice. Couldn’t imagine someone being in awe of her. “What game are you playing, Kai?” She asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.

“No game, Bonnie,” he sighed, “I wish you would believe me.”

“You know why I don’t.”

Kai snorted, “Yeah, I do, but it’s not the reason you think.”

She raised an eyebrow, “Oh? Enlighten me.”

“You didn’t trust me even before I did anything to hurt you.”

“The first time I met you, you called me the useless one and stabbed Damon.”

“Damon calls you useless all the time,” he said, not adding that was why he did it. 

Bonnie bristled, “That doesn’t make it okay!”

“I know that!” Kai ground out, trying not to raise his voice, “You didn’t trust me because you’re not used to being flirted with, just like Damon said. And by the way that’s so messed up, how can people not be lining up to ask you out? You’re incredible. Do you think I’d be trying to do this with anyone else? That I would have slept with anyone else back there?”

Bonnie rolled her eyes, “You’d been locked up for eighteen years, you’d have tried to sleep with Damon if he was the only one that showed up.”

“Ew,” Kai made a face and laughed, “Nope, just you Bonster. You’re special.”

Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes, she sniffed to hold them back but one look into Kai’s eyes opened the floodgates.

Immediately Kai shifted from pleading to worried, “What? What did I say?” He asked frantically.

Bonnie buried her face in her hands to hide both her tears and her embarrassment, “It’s nothing, just these stupid hormones.”

“Oh,” Kai said dumbly, reaching out to her but quickly jerking his hand back, “Can I… would it be okay if I hug you?” Bonnie hesitated, eyeing his hands cautiously but her touch starvation won out over her caution and she nodded her head. Kai immediately tucked her under his chin, wrapping his arms around her firmly, barely able to believe she was allowing him to do so.

Slowly, Bonnie wrapped her own arms around Kai in return. “I hate this, I hate not being in control of my emotions. I hate throwing up every morning. I hate that I can’t trust you but I also can’t let go,” she said into his shirt. Kai let her talk, having no idea what to say in response and hoping he could make up for that with a good enough hug. He remembered reading that sometimes physical affection could help people feel less sad. After a few moments passed, she looked up at him in confusion, “You didn’t siphon me,” she said. 

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you, I’ve changed, Bonnie.”

For the first time she actually started to believe him. 

 

* * *

They started heading back together without ever fully having the conversation they intended to, and yet it was one they needed to have. The magic Kai had siphoned from Jo beginning to fade as they made their way. By the time they were back at Jo’s office, he felt like death again. Bonnie decided to wait outside this time, with Alaric.

“Please tell me you have it now,” Kai said, sounding almost winded.

“I do,” Jo said, before flinging Kai into a wall. “But I want some assurances first. After this, we’re done. I don’t want to see you again. Ever. If we’re in the same place for any reason you will not talk to me or anyone I’m with, are we clear?” She asked, holding him to the wall with her magic.

“Fine, I agree,” Kai strained against the magic that he wasn’t strong enough to fight against. Jo eyed him carefully before finally releasing him.

“Good,” she said, handing over the vial. “Take it right before you go to sleep, it should knock you out pretty fast.”

“Do me one last favor?” Kai asked without giving her a chance to respond, “Don’t tell Dad about Bonnie. I don’t… I can’t risk what he might do.”

Jo frowned in confusion, “You don’t think he would hurt her, do you?”

“He tried to kill you so that we couldn’t merge. I don’t know what he might do to get the upper hand.” Jo was his own flesh and blood and he was willing to kill her, Kai had no idea what he’d be willing to do to Bonnie. 

“Okay,” Jo relented, “I won’t tell him. He’ll find out eventually though. He’s going to want to meet his grandchild.” 

Kai smiled sadly, “He can meet yours first.”

“What?”

“You weren’t throwing up because of me,” Kai said, leaning in to kiss her forehead. “Have a nice life, Sissy.” Without waiting for her response, he walked out of her office, having every intention of that being the last time they saw each other. Maybe in another life they could have had a real sibling relationship, but that just wasn’t feasible in this one.

Kai wasn’t quite sure how he knew about Jo’s pregnancy, it was just instinctual. Possibly because he was the coven leader, he could feel their magic. He also knew instinctively that Jo was having twins. There were two distinct magical signatures. 

His attention snapped back to Bonnie and suddenly he understood why it felt wrong to refer to their child in the singular.  _ She’s gonna kill me _ , he thought. 

“Ready to go?” Bonnie asked.

“Yeah,” Kai said, smiling at her. 

“Where were you staying, anyway?” She asked.

He shrugged, “A motel.”

“With what money?” She asked curiously.

He grinned back, “Magic, the ultimate lockpick.”

“Kai,” she frowned, “You can’t go back there to take the potion.”

“Why not?”

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe it’s because you’ll be in a magically induced coma? You can’t be alone, what if something happens?”

“Awww,” Kai grinned, “You worried about me Bonnie-boo?” 

She sighed, “I’m guessing that your kids are automatically Geminis, right?”

“Yeah, obviously.”

“So if something happens to you, my baby will die. And possibly put my life in danger too.”

Kai’s mouth dropped open slightly in surprise before quickly morphing into a grin, “Then I guess I’d better not let anything happen.” He couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought about that.

“I’ll take you back to the Salvatore house,” she said.

“You mean the place I was attacked last time?”

“Right...” Bonnie bit her lip nervously, she didn’t want to offer this but she was a little nervous about Liv trying another attack, or something else. Something tugged at her senses, urging her to stay by his side for reasons she couldn’t even begin to understand. “You could stay at my Grams’s place,” she said uncomfortably. “Just for today, when you can use magic again, I want you gone.”

Kai stared at her in surprise for a few moments, “Yeah that’s… I can do that.” So Bonnie took him home, led him to a spare bedroom and invited Caroline over.

“You did  _ what _ ?” Caroline giggled at her over the phone.

“I don’t know!” Bonnie said, “All the pregnancy hormones were kicking in and I thought he was going to die, it just came out before I knew what was happening!” 

“Isn’t that how you got into this situation?”

“ _ Caroline _ !” Bonnie whined.

“Okay, okay, I’ll come over and protect you from the big bad hottie.”

“What did you just say?”

“He’s like the big bad wolf, except you’re going to sleep with him, again.”

Bonnie’s eyes bulged, “What?” She almost screamed, before quickly controlling her volume so she wouldn’t wake Kai up. “I do  _ not _ want to sleep with Kai again.”

“Sure you don’t,” Caroline said, “You’re just pregnant, horny, and currently letting him stay with you.”

“Are you coming over or not?” Bonnie asked impatiently.

Caroline laughed, “I wouldn’t miss this for the world!” 

Hanging up the phone, Bonnie rubbed her temples in annoyance. They really needed to figure out a way to get Caroline to turn her humanity back on, but at least she was handling it better than Elena had. No one had been attacked so far, she had just lost her filter. As long as Bonnie didn’t judge her for turning off her humanity, she tended not to judge Bonnie for getting knocked up. 

“Thanks for coming, Care,” Bonnie said, opening the door wider to let her in.

“No problem. I brought wine.”   
  
“I can’t drink wine-”

“I know, it’s for me. I might not have my humanity on, but I still want both of you to be healthy.”

Bonnie bit her lip, “I’m worried it’s not just two,” she said.

“Well, twins do run in families.”

“And it’s built into his coven at this point!”

“So, C-section?” Caroline offered.

Bonnie laughed, mostly out of surprise, “I’m going to have to! Do I look like I can squeeze two of those things out of me?” 

“Well if it’s good enough for celebrities, it can be good enough for you. But if you don’t know, you haven’t gone to the doctor yet?”

Bonnie looked away, “No, not yet. I haven’t been sure...”

“If you wanted to keep it?” Caroline filled in, “You’re not gonna get more sure by avoiding the question.”

“I know, I know…” 

“So do you?” Caroline asked curiously.

“I think I do,” Bonnie said quietly, “But I shouldn’t, right?”

Caroline shrugged, “I think you should do whatever you want to do. If you want to keep it, then keep it.”

“But I’m too young, what if I can’t be a mom?”

“You’re Bonnie Bennett, you can do anything. You’ve been able to keep all of us safe for years, you can take care of a kid, or two.”

“A kid who will be half Kai Parker,” Bonnie said, “What if it’s just as bad as him?”

Caroline thought for a moment, “Powerful magic though. And I may be biased but he tried to save my mom.” For a moment there was a flicker of emotion in Caroline’s eyes, the humanity switch attempting to turn back on at the mention of her mother. 

“What?” Bonnie asked.

“I tried to cure her with my blood, but it didn’t work. It was hurting her more than the cancer did, Kai had to siphon the magic out of her…” It was Caroline’s turn to look away, “it was too late. Her heart gave out.” Bonnie watched her friend shake off the second attempt her humanity made to turn on again, still to no avail. “Anyway, there’s something there. I’m just saying.”

“I think you’re talking out of your ass,” Bonnie replied.

“We’ll see,” Caroline shrugged, downing her glass. “I will say that whatever comes out is going to be very cute. In like, a year. It’ll look like an alien at first. But we’ll all tell you it’s the cutest thing we’ve ever seen.”

Bonnie liked to hear Caroline talk about a future in which her humanity was back on, she didn’t mind this version of Caroline quite as much as she had the others, but she wasn’t quite the same. “You know, I always hoped we’d still be friends when I had kids, I just hoped that’d be a few years from now,” she laughed.

“Honestly, if Elena didn’t only date vampires you might not have been the first one of us to get pregnant. And I’m still convinced Damon made some kids he doesn’t know about before he was turned.”

Bonnie laughed, “Very true, I’m surprised we haven’t found a long-lost son yet.”

“It’s only a matter of time,” Caroline grinned, pouring herself another glass of wine. “So, want to watch Gilmore Girls and let me call you Lorelei for a few hours?” Bonnie laughed and turned on the TV. They watched a few episodes before Caroline decided to leave, making Bonnie promise to make a doctor’s appointment, saying that she didn’t need her humanity to want to know if she was having one niece or two. 

“How do you know they’ll be girls?” Bonnie had laughed.

“Just a hunch,” Caroline smiled. “Especially if they’re twins.”

Once she left, Bonnie returned to the show on her own, making it a few more episodes before startling at the sound of banging on the front door. Bonnie sighed heavily, slowly making her way over to the door while the pounding grew louder and she knew before she opened it who it was. “What do you want, Damon?” she asked, leaning against the door frame.

“Where’s the little parasite?” Damon asked, trying to walk through the threshold and frowning deeply when he couldn’t get in. “Invite me in.”

“He’s upstairs, healing.”

“Invite me in, I need to know more about my mom.”

“No,” Bonnie said firmly. 

Damon scoffed, “What? Come on, Bon-Bon, I just have a couple of questions.”

“You can’t, he’s unconscious.”

“Then I’ll wake him up.”

Bonnie closed her eyes, breathing in and out slowly in frustration, “You can’t. He took a potion and won’t wake up until it’s done healing him.”

“Fine,” Damon huffed, “Then I’ll be here when he wakes up.”

“I don’t know when that will be,” Bonnie snapped, “Jo said it would be anywhere from fifteen to twenty four hours, it’s only been eight. Just go home, Damon, I want to be alone.” 

“Alone? With  _ him _ ?” Damon asked incredulously.

“I don’t have to explain myself to you. Leave,” she said, closing the door and ignoring his shouts of indignation. It didn’t take him long to give up, thankfully. Not long after he left, Bonnie’s eyes began drifting closed as she curled up tighter on the couch. The next morning she awoke in her bed, sunlight streaming over her face and the smell of breakfast wafting from the kitchen. Unfortunately it also had her stomach tossing. 

Bonnie threw the covers off of her, sprinting to the bathroom to shove her head in the toilet before it was too late. She just barely made it, slumping against the wall when she was done. By the time she was able to stand, she heard the sound of a blender whirring. “Do I even own a blender?” She asked herself.

Following the sound, Bonnie made her way into the kitchen to see Kai at the stove cooking up breakfast. “Good morning, Sleeping Beauty,” Kai said with a grin. “I woke up early so I decided to make us both some breakfast, but then I heard you upstairs...”

“Puking my guts out?” Bonnie supplied.

“Yeah,” Kai said, “That. So I made you a smoothie instead. Should settle your stomach and still be a decent breakfast.”

Bonnie eyed him warily but sat down all the same, “The last time you cooked didn’t go so well for me.”

“I wanted to make up for that,” he said, “prove that I deserve a second chance.”

“A fourth chance, you mean.”

“Where are you getting four?”

Bonnie held up a finger as she ticked off his crimes, “you shot me with an arrow-”

“After you killed me with an axe,” Kai reminded.

Bonnie just glared and continued, “You drugged me, flew me across the country against my will, threw me in the trunk of a car, then drugged me again, stabbed me and left me for dead. All the while I was pregnant.” She couldn’t bring herself to look directly at him, the pained look on his face too much to bear. Bonnie refused to feel guilty for the truth.

“Okay, you’re right,” Kai said, “I have a lot to make up for. So let me try, please. I want to be here for you and our kid.”

Bonnie was quiet for a long while, observing him closely. “Did you move me last night?” she finally asked.

“Well, this morning. I woke up around three and I saw you on the couch, I had to guess which room was yours, did I get it right?” 

“Why?”

Kai shrugged, “I thought you’d be more comfortable. Do I need an ulterior motive for everything I do?”

“You usually have one.”

“Well not this time,” Kai said, place glass in front of her. She eyed it suspiciously without moving an inch so he rolled his eyes and took a long sip of the smoothie, “See?” he made a show of swallowing the mouthful, “Nothing to be afraid of.”

Bonnie ignored him and started on the smoothie, sipping thoughtfully while she pretended not to see him watching her. “I have an appointment today, for a sonogram,” she said once she had swallowed the mouthful of pancakes. “You can come, if you want.” The look on his face told Bonnie that he definitely did want that, so she added, “I’m giving you a chance to prove you’ve changed, don’t mess it up.”

A few hours and one uncomfortable waiting room later, Bonnie and Kai were being led into the exam room with Bonnie being given a hospital gown to change into. 

“What?” Kai asked one he noticed the glare Bonnie was sending him, “It’s not like I haven’t seen it all before.” 

“Out, or you stay out for the whole exam,” Bonnie replied coolly, sending him practically running out of the room. 

With him outside, Bonnie was finally able to have a few moments to herself to think. What was she doing here with  _ Kai _ ? The man murdered his siblings as  _ children _ , how could Bonnie even consider trusting him with a helpless infant? How much could a man like that really change? How much of an effect could Luke really have had on him? There had to be a real ulterior motive here, Bonnie just hadn’t found it yet. Still, the idea of him leaving made her heart race with an anxiety that she chalked up to pregnancy hormones.

Once she was changed she poked her head out the door to let him back in. Together they waited for the doctor to come in, neither one wanting to let on how nervous they were, so they remained silent, both breathing a sigh of relief when Meredith walked through the door.

“Bonnie!” Meredith said cheerfully, “It’s so nice to see you again.”

Bonnie smiled brightly, brighter than Kai had ever seen, “Dr. Fell! I missed you.”

“I missed you too. Richmond is nice and I’m liking my new paycheck but It’s not the same as Mystic Falls. Safer though,” Meredith laughed, “Now, is there any particular reason you booked this appointment with me and not an OB/GYN?” Meredith asked knowingly. Kai perked up at her tone, having wondered himself why they went so far away from Mystic Falls for this, but he wasn’t really complaining about anything that let him spend more time with Bonnie.

“I was worried that a witch pregnancy might have some…” she trailed off, trying to find the right word, “Unusual aspects to it, and I won’t really hear about those in the regular ‘what to expect when you’re expecting’ speeches.”

Meredith nodded, “For the most part, it should be the same as a normal pregnancy. Bennett witches tend to come into their powers a little later than most too, so you most likely won’t have to worry about in utero magic. However, your magic might be stronger, especially when you’re feeling stressed.”

Bonnie glanced over at Kai, “What if they’re not just Bennetts?” She asked.

“What coven are you from?” Meredith asked Kai.

“Gemini,” Kai answered, “We get powers young, but usually not that young.”

“A Bennett and a Gemini,” Meredith whistled lowly, “You shouldn’t run into too much trouble during the pregnancy, but if you do you can call me anytime for advice. Now, if you’ll just lie down I can get a look at what’s in there,” she said, maneuvering the ultrasound machine into place. “This gel is going to be a little cold, brace yourself.” It was cold, as soon as the gel touched Bonnie’s skin a nearby glass container shattered. “Yeah, your magic might interpret anything that comes near you as a threat to the baby, especially as it gets further in development.”

She spread the gel around Bonnie’s abdomen while Kai and Bonnie watched the screen, transfixed. “Congratulations,” Meredith said, “You’re having twins.”

While both of them had more or less expected that, neither were particularly happy to hear it. “I was worried about that,” Bonnie groaned. 

“They both look like they’re developing pretty well, I’m not an OB though so I can’t say for sure. Do you want to know the sex?” Bonnie and Kai both looked to each other before nodding, “You’re having girls,” Meredith said. “Do you want a copy of the sonogram to take home?”

“Yes,” Kai and Bonnie said in unison without looking at each other. 

Meredith smiled, she could tell the two had issues between them but she could also tell that they had enough common ground to work through it. She sent them away with the sonograms and a list of doctors Bonnie could see, most of whom were closer. 

Kai couldn’t stop staring at his copy of the sonogram, only managing to look up from it twice by the time they got back to Mystic Falls. “Twins…” he whispered to himself. First born twins of the Gemini leader. Bonnie looked at him curiously and he wondered if she knew what he was thinking. In twenty-three years they would replace him as leader and he couldn’t understand why that only excited him. 

For eighteen years he’d been almost single-mindedly focused on killing his youngest siblings so he could take power, never once thinking about what he would do with that power once he had it. And now he knew what he wanted to do with that power. He wanted to grow it, cultivate it, use it to protect himself and Bonnie, and then pass it down to his children. 

_ His children.  _ The words still sounded foreign to him. Of course, he’d always thought about having kids eventually, in a vague, nebulous way. As leader, he would have to have children, that was something he understood but never something he had thought much about. Now though, the reality was staring him in the face. Kai Parker was about to become a father and he was terrified the he would screw that up.

 

* * *

 

Bonnie didn’t know what he was thinking, she was busy with her own concerns.  _ Twins _ . She was having unplanned twins at twenty years old, unmarried, without a job or having finished college. Twins who would grow up burdened by both their family lines. Once they were back at her the house, Bonnie slumped against the wall, sliding down it slowly. “They’ll be Gemini twins… I’ll be raising one of them to die. And they’re Bennetts, so the other will die anyway. Why am I even doing this?” Her voice rose in distress as she kept talking.

“Maybe it doesn’t have to be that way,” Kai said quietly, reminding her that she wasn’t alone. 

“How?” Bonnie asked, tears trailing down her cheeks.

Kai watched Bonnie curl in on herself, gently reaching out to squeeze her shoulder, “I don’t know, but I didn’t know if I could get you out of 1994 and I did that. Maybe there’s something we can do. I don’t want my―  _ our  _ kids turning out like me. I haven’t even met them yet and I don’t know what I’d do if I lost one of them.” 

Slowly, Bonnie picked her head up to look at him. “You killed your siblings when they were kids,” she said, “Why do you care now?”

“I don’t know,” Kai said, staring up at the ceiling blankly, trying to work out that answer for himself. “I just do. Maybe it’s Luke, I couldn’t kill Liv because of him, even though she stabbed me and was keeping me from getting you back.”

Bonnie frowned, “You stabbed me twice. Why would you care about me?”

Kai sighed, “I know you don’t believe me, but I never wanted to hurt you. I wanted us to come back together, but I couldn’t take being in 1994 anymore. You were ready to throw in the towel after a few months alone, I was there for almost two decades.”

“What?” Bonnie asked, her blood running cold.

“We saw you drinking that suicide bourbon,” Kai said, “That’s what Darius said it was. He may have used different words. Hey, no shame though. You wouldn’t believe how many times I tried to off myself there.”

“You didn’t know how to fly a plane before they put you there, did you?” She asked, already knowing the answer.

“Nope,” Kai said. “Thought a plane crash might work, then I decided I might as well learn to fly if there were no consequences for failing.”

“I hate flying,” Bonnie said.

Kai grinned at her, “A witch who hates flying?”

“It’s not like we actually fly on brooms or anything.”

“No, but there are levitation spells.”

Bonnie blinked, “Really?”

“Oh, Bonster, you have no idea what you’ve missed out on.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to the lovely Eden for beta-ing this chapter!

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked this, there's definitely more to come, I've got a whole outline I promise, but I will warn you I can be pretty slow to update. In the meantime, you can come yell at me over on tumblr at [battlships](http://battlships.tumblr.com)!


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